By Favour Nnabugwu, Abuja

•How policemen shot at worshipers
The death of a 27- year-old  man must certainly be the most traumatic and devastating experience a family can face. That was the case of Awal Inuwa Ashafa, the only son of his mother whose life was cut short at his prime age right in front of Orukposaka Mosque, Orukposaka Street in Abaji during the heat of Kabiru Umar, alias Kabiru Sokoto’s escape on Sunday, January 15, 2012.

A National Diploma holder in Building Engineering from Nasarawa Polytechnic, Nasarawa State, Awal was a level 4 civil servant in a Junior Secondary School, Kekeshi, Abaji. He had dreams to further his education in order to complete his Higher National Diploma in Building Engineering.

With a passion for interior decoration and specialty in tiles, Awal had woken up on that very Sunday morning with no premonition of his death. He was however conscious of the incident that happened earlier in the day when some Policemen stormed the town with hand cuffed suspected Boko Haram king pin, kabir Sokoto followed with the attack by some rampaging youths and the subsequent escape of the highly- prized suspect.

A scion from one of the largest families in Abaji, Awal had gone out with his motorcycle that Sunday and stopped to have his afternoon prayer at Jibwis Mosque in town, not too far from the Ona of Abaji’s palace.

Few minutes after that, he promptly obeyed his elder brother’s warning to go home and make sure that members of the family did not step out of their house as tension was still high following the escape of the suspect.

The mosque where Awal was shot dead

He reportedly quickly drove straight home to his family house which was less than 300 miles away from the Orukposaka Mosque, Orukposaka Street in Abaji. Unfortunately, he met his untimely end later around the same mosque.

Mogrubi Prayer time

It was gathered that he carefully packed his motorcycle at home until about 5.30p.m when it was time for Mogrubi prayer, the 4th to the last Muslim prayer for the day.

He went back to the Mosque to perform his ablution, in preparation for the fourth prayer when some armed policemen stormed there. On sighting the policemen, Awal and many other worshipers decided to run for safety. But he never lived to tell his own part of the story as the police opened fire during which one of the shots hit Awal from behind and pierced though his chest.

Awal’s elder brother

It is frequently said that the grief of bereaved parents especially mothers, is the most intense grief. When a young person dies, parents feel that a part of them has died. In fact, they always feel that all hopes have been lost.

The eldest brother of Awal, Mr Mohammed Ashafa who spoke with Crime Alert said the grief caused by Awal s death was not only painful but profoundly devastated the entire family.

Though he philosophically surmised that they had taken it as the Will of Almighty God, he however stated that the family was forced to confront an extremely painful and stressful paradox; faced with a situation in which they must deal both with the grief caused by their brother’s death and the unfortunate circumstances that led to his death.

His story

I was told that Awal was around the Mosque area when the police were going round ,conducting their patrol to actually ascertain where the youths that earlier attacked them were.

But, those around the mosque were frightened by the presence of gun -wielding Policemen and they started running in different directions. It was then that the gun totting policemen allegedly opened fire which incidentally hit Awal on the chest and he died instantly. That was the story we heard.

It should be noted that Awal was killed between 5.p.m to 6p.m while, from the story we heard, the policemen brought kabir Sokoto around 10a.m to 11a.m in the morning. We cannot actually marry the time the police brought Sokoto to the time Awal was said to have been shot in the evening at about 6p.m.

Maybe the policemen were trying to trace those youths that caused the uprising and as they arrived at the Mosque area which is close to the residence of the suspected Boko Haram kingpin, they confronted the worshipers who were scared by their presence.

Eye witness account

A witness said trouble started in the area when policemen from Abuja city brought Kabiru Sokoto in a Toyota Hilux van. A gang of youths flagged down the vehicle as it was heading for the Ona of Abaji’s Palace, creating chaos during which the suspect escaped.

The police had earlier taken the suspect to a house he owned at Abaji to conduct search and were on their way to the traditional head’s palace when the youths saw him in handcuffs and then blocked the road. Kabiru seized the opportunity created by the youths and escaped. Meanwhile, the police fired shots in the air to disperse the youths, but one of the bullets hit a young man.

Awal’s corpse still with the police

Awal’s elder brother told Crime Alert that the corpse was yet to be released to the family as police said the body would not be released until they finish their investigations. Hear him; I was told that the corpse was taken to the mortuary by the police and we have not seen it.

“We have resigned to fate. We know that there are families whose loved ones died in circumstances that make it practically impossible to retrieve their corpse. We are however waiting on the Chairman of the local government who has been talking with the police on our behalf. We are waiting for him to advise us accordingly.